[wp-hackers] Plugin Licensing

[Andy Charrington-Wilden]

I think the bottom line here is that if you want to make money from wordpress do not ask about it on this list. There is a certain philosophy behind WP and it is shared by most if not all contributors. And they do it free. I respect that. I however do not have the finances or time to volunteer my time right now. In the future I would like to. I appreciate and am grateful for all the work that has been put in to WP to make it such a great platform. Telling people to simply use another system or build their own is not helpful. Developers can build whatever they like on WordPress and sell it for however much they want. It just has to inherit the license. There's no way round that. Even if there was, this is not the place to discuss it. The WP community will in all likelihood not approve or support you but that may not be important to some. 

All too often discussions on this topic end in fall outs and harsh words. It's a shame but understandable. 

Perhaps a list should be started for those who want to pursue the route of profiting from wordpress and for whom approval of the WP community is not a priority? 

It's a really tough one. I don't have the answers but I'm pretty sure they answers won't be found on this list. 

With respect. 

Andy. 

Jealous Designs
Website: jealousdesigns.co.uk
Portfolio: jealousdesigns.co.uk/portfolio
Phone: 07903030008
Twitter: _a_n_d_y
Skype: andycharrington 

Sent from my iPhone

On 13 Mar 2011, at 11:09, Mike Little <wordpress at zed1.com> wrote:

> On 13 March 2011 10:56, Piyush Mishra <me at piyushmishra.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I don't think you got the whole idea as I was trying to put it. The source
>> code remains open source and ready to contribute for people who already do
>> that and it will always be. Why would WordPress close its source anyway?
>> Its about those people who write plugins and go all heights to make it paid
>> only. They will have to pay WordPress community back in cash.
>> 
>> 
> The only reason for dual licensing would be to place restrictions on some
> users. Regardless of the reasons for it, it goes against the philosophy of
> the GPL.
> 
> Those people who charge for their GPL plugins are free to contribute code
> and money (via the foundation) back to WordPress. But *requiring* them to
> contribute money so that they can restrict users is not only against the
> philosophy it is, in my opinion, morally corrupt.
> 
> 
> 
>> A lot of us pay back to the community in one way or the other.
>> But there are those who extend WordPress and sell their plugins.
>> Check this out:-
>> http://www.gravityforms.com/terms-and-conditions/
>> try getting the latest version of gforms and this one
>> http://www.gravityhelp.com/forums/topic/is-it-gpl (yes its true, css files
>> aren't covered).
>> My point is as WordPress users get helpless in such situations. we should
>> keep dual license to take care of that or take some action
>> (copyright infringement / demand giving php files out for free)
>> 
>> 
> Users are not helpless, they can choose to use a different plugin or can
> even ask someone who has paid for it to give them a copy for free (albeit
> without css or graphics).
> 
> Personally, I have spent thousands of dollars on paid for plugins and
> themes, but I would not spend a penny on a dual licensed one.
> 
> 
> Mike
> -- 
> Mike Little
> http://zed1.com/
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